28 Feb REVIEW: EVA AIR 777-300 BUSINESS CLASS

Overall

There’s no doubt that Eva Air offers a convenient way of getting from Bangkok to London; it’s a very functional flight. Will I remember it for years to come? Probably not. While it was a pleasant flight, it just wasn’t memorable. The best thing I have from it is the awesome Rimowa kit! I would happily do it again but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. Still, at just 55.000 Aegean miles + €80 for a flat seat for 13 hours you can’t really go wrong!

Background/booking

Last October I spent a few days in Bangkok after a phenomenal week at the St.Regis Maldives! Bangkok is one my favourite cities given its amazing food scene and the insanely cheap 5-star hotel properties that are on offer! For my flight back to London I wanted to try a new airline and decided to redeem for Eva Air which I’d had my eyes on for a very long time! The Taiwanese carrier flies direct from Bangkok to LHR and since it’s a Star Alliance carrier I was able to book business class through Aegean’s Miles+Bonus program for just 55.000 miles and about €80 one way, which is a steal!

The seat

Eva Air operates a 777-300ER out of Bangkok which has a reverse herringbone seat in a 1-2-1 configuration. While not super exciting, it is definitely one of the most ‘solid’ seats out there that provides very good privacy and comfort. It’s on par with what you’d find on Qatar airways 787 or Cathay Pacific 777-300 so overall it was a pretty good experience, without though a WOW factor. I think the seat feels a bit old now and definitely shows its age. However, it was pretty comfortable both in regular and in bed mode. I particularly liked how Eva Air provides a (thin) mattress that hooks on the top of the seat so you can easily switch between seat modes without removing it.

The service

This is probably by biggest complaint on this flight. For an Asian carrier, the service was subpar. It’s not that it was bad, it just didn’t feel special at all. The crew were not particularly friendly and didn’t make too much of an effort to engage. Maybe that was because of the language barrier butthe service just lacked any sort of personality and attention to detail. Havingsaid that, Asian carriers set the bar very high so Eva Air does pretty wellwhen you compare them to other carriers, especially in the US…

The entertainmentsystem/amenities/internet

The seat comes with a pretty big tv although the overall quality of the screen and the selection of movies are nothing to write home about. Good but nothing memorable… Business class comes with noise-cancelling headphones which I didn’t try as nothing really beats my pair of Bose headphones.

Amenities-wise, Eva Air really shines! Business class passengers are offered a very cool and exclusive Rimowa hard-case kit which has all the basics (with Clarins cosmetics). You also get a pair of very nice pj’s and slippers that come in a handy case. Overall, top marks here!

The internet was a bit disappointing although at least itwas cheap! While technically available, it was very hard to get a connection onand when you did the speed was abysmal. It’s ok if you want to send a messageor do some simple browsing but don’t expect to be downloading big files ordoing anything substantial with it.

The food

Once again, I think the food left quite a bit to be desired. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either, especially coupled with the pretty indifferent service. Everything I had was good but not memorable. The good thing with Eva Air is they let you pre-order from a more extensive menu prior to the flight so I had chosen a pretty nice seabass dish which wasn’t otherwise available on board. Overall, I’d say the highlight was the Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2006 which is a fantastic champagne and very expensive on the ground! Again, maybe I’m being too harsh here but I was expecting “stronger” flavours and just better variety and service.